Carey Mulligan featured in the January 2012 issue of W Magazine photographed b Michael Thompson and styled by Edward Enninful. Hair by Jimmy Paul. Makeup by Aaron De Mey.

Oh, don’t get too excited. While there is a fresh sassiness and liveliness to these pictures, they’re not as sexariffic as that cover would have you believe. And they still couldn’t avoid doing the Twiggy/Sedgwick thing with her. Thankfully it’s not overdone and she looks pretty great in all the pictures, bringing an actorly intensity to the shots. The chipmunk one is adorable.

I wish they’d pull her for Marilyn movies. She’s got the naivete and intelligence much more than the others they always pick. I like these quite a bit!

Anonymous

Norma Jean the readheaded model trying to make it in bit parts in film, sure. Marilyn the platinum blonde curvy goddess ready to kill herself in frustration with not being taken seriously as an actress, not yet.

http://profiles.google.com/adj.blair Adriana Blair

Well now I want a pet chipmunk.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EDI2DLE7DE3YPW2ONIHBWOVHMA ecallaw

That cover is stunning, and would have been so even without her chest exposed. My, doesn’t she look perky. *jealous*

Anonymous

Her boobs look AMAZING. I must have that bra, but sadly, I do not think it would have quite the same effect.

I’m still not quite used to recognizing her face unless she’s smiling–I don’t think I would’ve known that was her on the cover or in some of the shots except definitely the chipmunk one. But she’s just so cute.

http://profiles.google.com/sara.e.munoz Sara Munoz

This looks like a lot of fun.

http://twitter.com/KalisaHyman Kalisa Hyman

Love that crying shot.

Anonymous

Who’s that girl on the cover? Seriously, if you hadn’t said that was Carey Mulligan, I never would have recognized the cover shot.

Anonymous

Really?

Anonymous

Yep. If I saw this on a rack, I would think it was just some model. Even with her name on the cover-I would just think that there was an interview inside and think how weird they didn’t use her as the cover model.

Anonymous

Yep. If I saw this on a rack, I would think it was just some model. Even with her name on the cover-I would just think that there was an interview inside and think how weird they didn’t use her as the cover model.

Anonymous

Me neither. That doesn’t look like her face or body. Photoshop for the win!

Anonymous

Yea, I can’t figure out what they did to her. The other shot of her profile, I see her. This one…is it the nose? The eyes? I’m making myself dizzy scrolling up and back down.

Anonymous

I had the same reaction. It’s the eyes- this is an attitude and a look that is entirely different from anything I’ve seen from her. I gotta say I’m loving it!

Anonymous

The cover made think of Betty Draper in her Italy modeling days. Speaking of which, I saw an ad for Mad Men on AMC, early 2012.

Anonymous

Squee!

Anonymous

beautiful.

Anonymous

I really like these photos. There’s an ease and a whimsy to them that you rarely see in the typically overly dramatic editorial photos with angry-looking models. The chipmunk picture is completely endearing and makes me like the dress even more.

Just one comment not about Ms. Mulligan: The runway model for the white Gaultier separates? Terrifying. Yes, she appears to have some meat on her bones, but I think she also has bats in her belfry. [shudder]

Anonymous

Is that model a man? I think so. Anyway, not actually attractive but very striking.

Anonymous

I noticed that the tatted model has pretty beefy legs. (So do I, but I’m not a runway model.)

Hannah P

LOVE

Anonymous

Wow, she looks really great here. I can’t decide who is cuter, her or the chipmunk.

http://twitter.com/anacedillo Ana Cedillo

the cover is beautiful, the chipmunk one is soooo cute, and the last one is so elegant. over all i actually really really like this

http://twitter.com/JoStrickland Charlotte Fabricius

She looks stunning on that cover, no doubt about it – but come on, W, naughty but nice? More like nice, but slightly naked, but still nice. You put her in what is practically a broderie anglaise bra. That’s good-girl lingerie.
Not that that makes her look any less amazing, mind. And maybe it’s just my jealousy of her perkiness, being a generous 30H myself..

http://profiles.google.com/phyllis.craine Phyllis Craine

She looks like Twiggy (my girlhood idol) in the 3rd from the bottom!

Anonymous

Those boobs are perky.

Anonymous

Love the running down the hallway shot.

Anonymous

I had this same outfit in 6th grade (1984)!

I wonder if it buttons all the way up the back on both the skirt and the bodice? If so, it’s DEFINITELY the same one

foodycat

Is the chipmunk giggling too? That shot is very cute. I don’t love the cover because I think the exposed bra is unnecessary.

Anne Slovin

Where do I get a knock-off version of the dress in the chipmunk picture? Adorable. Plus she looks great.

I only like the one with the chipmunk. I have a feeling this captures her personality a bit. Oversexed cover shot wans’t really necessary was it? I actually think if she had a shirt or dress on THAT would have been a hell of a cover shot…the bra is distracting.

Carey is very pretty but I did not need to see her bra to find her so.

Anonymous

Kudos to the chipmunk.

Carey is very pretty but I did not need to see her bra to find her so.

Anonymous

It’s too bad she got the 2920944242049824th “Mia Meets Twiggy” fashion editorial we’ve seen this year, because she can actually pull it off.

Anonymous

It’s too bad she got the 2920944242049824th “Mia Meets Twiggy” fashion editorial we’ve seen this year, because she can actually pull it off.

Anonymous

Only Carey Mulligan could get away with posing in a bra on a cover without looking skeezy. Love her.

Anonymous

LOVE that cover.

Susana Reyes

I love her. She looks great.

Eclectic Mayhem

Oooh – the fab Ms Mulligan looks a bit like ANTM ‘All Star’ Alexandria in that second shot, not a good thing as far as I’m concerned (that girl was batshit crazy!).

Loving the rest of the shoot.

Anonymous

What’s with all of the crying/scared shots? Ick. Love the chipmunk, though.

Anonymous

She’s great

Anonymous

They did a good job of showing her versatility here. I like the cover and the chipmunk shots the best. She really is quite beautiful.

Lauren Maier

DUCK SALLY SPARROW. DUCK NOW!

But this time, it’s not a duck. It’s a chipmunk.

Anonymous

The Twiggy thing has got to end. She’s giving spectacular face in the cover shot. I find the shot very sexy, and I usually dislike that much skin. The rest looks amateurish–not Mulligan’s fault, it’s just bad editing.

http://korilian.livejournal.com/ korilian

She looks like she’s terrified the chipmunk is going to maul her face.

http://twitter.com/#!/Space_Kitty Space Kitty

If they don’t put her in a Hitchcock remake I don’t even know what.

scottyf

There should be no such thing as a “Hitchcock remake.”

…but I DEFINITELY understand what you mean. She evokes the majestic, far-away beauty of a Hitchcock heroine.

Anonymous

And Hitchcock definitely had a preference for blondes. In complete agreement that “[t]here should be no such thing as a “Hitchcock remake.””

mrspeel2

Really nice collection of photos! In the Louis Vuitton shot, she reminds me of Jean Seberg.

Anonymous

The chipmunk shot is really cute and she looks lovely on the cover and I’m digging the shot of her running down the hallway.

Anonymous

Wow – I love her look on the front cover. And I looove the Jean-Paul Gaultier model – she’s out there.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Emily-Smith/12431153 Emily Smith

the model in the gaultier is BAD ASS assuming those tats are real. which it looks like they are. also she looks like a real woman. awesome. also carey looks great.

Anonymous

agreed!

http://beautyforrealgirls.blogspot.com/ accidental housewife

Yep. Those are some major tats, real or otherwise. She’s totally badass.

Anonymous

They’re real. He brought in a few “real women” for his S/S 2012 show.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3AJ237ND3GAHDQJZ4TLCO4WLRA Emily

She looks so beautiful on that cover shot. It’s unreal. Like the pictures ok.

http://profiles.google.com/thisiscelia Celia

Wonderful shots. Whimsical and cinematic. She really has a beautiful face, doesn’t she?

Anonymous

why is she randomly crying? why couldn’t they photoshop in a more realistic looking chipmunk? so many questions.

Anonymous

Despite the hair, eye-makeup and general gamine-ness she exudes, I actually get more of a Hitchcock blonde vibe from most of these shots, rather than the Twiggy/Edie vibe. The chipmunk shot is, of course, an exception, unless there’s an unreleased print of Tippi Hedren being menaced by adorable rodents instead of birds.

http://twitter.com/delysia_lafosse Delysia LaFosse

I love that she seems willing to do cinematic shoots like this, not just the standard starlet ‘And here I am looking gorgeous and sexy in this dress… and this dress… and this dress.’ Which isn’t so say she doesn’t look beautiful, it’s just that there’s so much more interest to these shots – and facial expressions! – than what we usually see with young actresses.

Anonymous

Carey Mulligan is the only woman who could make me not even realize there was a chipmunk on her shoulder. The chipmunk’s agent should sue.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1046681022 Paula Berman

Her facial expression is so cute that the reason I like her. She has a real person’s face and is so expressive. However, that dress is hiddy.

Anonymous

Wow I really want that white skirt! Funny how the ink on the model really makes those pleats (can they be called pleats if they go sideways like that?) pop! I love love love that skirt!

Anonymous

Love the clothes! I wish I could be in a photo shoot like this!

http://beautyforrealgirls.blogspot.com/ accidental housewife

Amazing photos. And she makes that Prada dress look almost appealing.

She’s devastatingly beautiful in the final shot.

Anonymous

The little girl is all grown up now.

Anonymous

Apparently I’m the only one who loathes the cover and think they made her generally look awful in this shoot.

Anonymous

Well. It seems she is much more beautiful than I thought.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VA5XLSF3QRELSC3MUFSXLP4EIE rebecca

I really love it. Adorable without being all twee.

Sanja Ramic

Sexing her up on the cover strikes me as a bit of an odd choice, as lovely as she looks and as perky as her breasts are (so jealous) I just don’t think it really works for her. I think somebody mentioned that her beauty is similar to that of a Hitchcock heroine and I completely agree, also there is something quite, I guess intelligent, about her face that doesn’t really work with the cover shot. I wonder if it’s because of her role in ‘Shame’ that they’re taking a more mature sexed-up approach and if so I can’t wait for all the Jazz age editorials inspired by her role as Daisy in the new Gatsby film.

bloodshothalfblind

i swear to god, i thought the cover was one of those creepy sad Toddlers in Tiaras babies.

Anonymous

Carey Mulligan, all day long. She just burns through the endless blur of blondes, doesn’t she? Howsabout the incredibly hot kiss with Ryan Gosling in Drive! Oh yeah, great clothes! The haircut! And now, la balconette!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1046681022 Paula Berman

They didn’t do the gamine/Twiggy thing to her: she does it to herself, but she does it so well, though it is kind of trendy now (Cf. Williams, Watson)

Anonymous

When my W showed up in my mailbox, I had no idea who that was on the cover.

It’s a great spread. She’s got one of those faces that’s meant for the big screen.

–GothamTomato

Anonymous

Wow, I see Edie Sedgwick in that running down the hall shot. And, are chipmunks a chic new accessory? I’m SO EXCITED!!

http://designerhags.wordpress.com/ Lauren

She looks great! It’s an awesome shoot – it’s really nice to see the designs on the models alongside the photoshoot too. Nice touch!

Anonymous

Love love love that first Prada dress. SO cute.

Anonymous

LUV HUH and she really looks fabulous in every photo. But WTF with the Gaultier model??